Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for separating fractions of a multicomponent liquid such as petroleum oil and, more particularly, relates to a method for separating distillate fuel from crude oil using multistage flash and boiling evaporator apparatus arranged in proper order. Current methods for producing a distillate fuel from crude oil follow most large refinery processes by initially heating the crude to a temperature in the range of about 800-1000.degree. F. and then refining the heated crude oil to separate various fractions of the oil at different heights in a distillation column, via condensation.
In accordance with the present invention, various fractions of a crude oil and, particularly, distillate fuel, can be separated using a multistage evaporator arrangement.